Woodmizer alignment procedure

[woodyone.john]

Hi Guys,How many of you have done a complete alignment.Spring is coming and job enquiries a starting to trickle in. During the winter I cut a few knotty pine jobs and was less than impressed with some of the knotty boards produced.Sawing hardwood's doesn't cause any probs.[10 degree 1 1/2 wm doublehards] So I am contemplating a complete alignment to see if I can improve quality on output.In reviewing the procedure in the manual it seems to chop and change to get to an alignment,so I would appreciate your thoughts on the following
Take out the guides ,both roller and ceramic. check and adjust the mast guides. check that the blade runs neutrally on the band wheels when at correct tension,correct cant control if required.check blade for across the bed to get the blade neutrally [without guides] +1/16 above parallel to the outer side.check blade is level with the bed length wise with the clip on tool. reinstall both sets of guides [ceramic and roller and adjust cant side guide arm for parallel,1/4 down pressure and toe in/out and again parallel along the bed. check drive side for down deflection and toe in/out . check and adjust ceramic guide for clearance and finally the guide in the top of the frame. would you do it differently and if so why. what did i leave out.sorry i am aware i tend to write in an abbreviated style. [stiff fingers and jumbled brain are 2 obvious causes]thanks for your tolerance
cheers john

[Chuck White]

Good morning John!

I do a complete alignment on my mill every Winter and I just follow the book, step-by-step and I have always had good results!

[drobertson]

I have done it,  but have to ask if  the saw is cutting good through hard wood, and the knots are the only issue, maybe it is a speed/blade issue more than alignment.  It never hurts to check things out, that's for sure,

[Magicman]

Even with a perfectly aligned sawmill, knots can/will still cause "knot wave".

[YellowHammer]

Before I went through the full, detailed alignment procedure, I'd fully and carefully inspect alignment first because it only takes a few minutes and will let you know if anything is wrong.
YH

[T Welsh]

I do it every year or every other year depending on how the mill is cutting, when I notice the dimensions of my cuts going off target, I investigate the cause. Some times it is the guides,roller bearings and or mast adjustment. The alignment procedure is straight forward, do not skip steps!! As Magic said cutting logs with knots in them can be misleading as the hardness of the knots tend to raise the blade, when I am done the aligning I test it out with a new blade on a test log that has no stress or knots. Tim   

[backwoods sawyer]

I'll add one more step in there. After getting the guide aligned Run it all the way in and double check alignment, the arm itself can be off. It will show up not so much with wavy boards but with out of square cuts.

Also a good idea to start the alignment with a new set of guides, toss the others in the tool box for later. This alows you to see if the saw is running back on one side more then the other as well.   

[Dave Shepard]

I would check the drive belt tension first, unless you have been doing that very regularly. An even slightly loose belt will saw good in clear wood and go surfing in knotty logs.

[terrifictimbersllc]

I just did the complete alignment procedure on my LT40 and am looking forward to using it on Thursday again. I'm sure you realize you've listed most but not all of the steps.  Two steps you left out (and some others) are, the early step of alignment of the band to the frame inside and out (adjusting the nuts which tilt the head up or down so the band is the same to the frame inside and out), and a late one, to raising the outside of the band 1/16" (by adjusting these same nuts).  While these two adjustments seem(and and are) redundant, keeping to doing them cleanly removes considering the 1/16" from the adjustments for the band, all the bed rails, the band with the down pressure, and the adjustments in guide arm vertical parallelism-when one incorporates the extra two steps, these are all made with the inside and outside distances to the band being the same.   At the end one puts in the extra 1/16".

I thought about simplifying by working in the 1/16" from the beginning, but after doing it again the other day, I"m going to stick to just following the manual exactly.  For me, I don't see it taking any longer.  Dealing with that extra 16" through the whole procedure would confuse me and I'd probably end up worse than I started.

It seems you also omit the guide arm adjustment, but perhaps I don't understand your terms exactly. Also it does matter to use new b-57 belts. For tracking and for keeping the band the same distance off of both wheels.  I did, and then put old ones back on again. I was careful to select of my old ones, two that were worn down about the same.  Checking the distances again with the old belts I found I had the inside and outside (+1/16") exactly.  I always keep an eye on blade tracking and dog board thickness anyway so will adjust the "set to 12" " when I start out again on Thursday.

What is always amazing to me is how, after bouncing 1-2 ton logs on the mill for a year, how small any adjustments are, that I make during the complete alignment.

Also I put on a new drive belt and changed the gearbox oil (the latter is  a nasty chore  >:( >:( >:( >:()

[JustinW_NZ]

Hi John

I did a similar tune up recently, I did put new band wheel belts on (as per book) and I think it was a wise thing to do.
Otherwise as others have said, I've had hard Doug-fir catch me with knots, its generally easy going so you speed along and then WAM hit a hard knotty bit and things can go funny.

Cheers
Justin

[woodyone.john]

Thanks for your input guys,I have been right through.Was only about a 1/2 turn out on the blade tracking adjustment to get the 4-6mm band wheel to blade throat clearance all other less than a 1/4 turn to get to spec.What had me worried and I didnt get until I took the manual to the mill and started do the job was to take the guides,roller and ceramic,out of the equation. Split a short piece of dunnage for a test but tomorrow will saw a couple of poplar logs which wont be an onerous task but will hopefully prove I got it right.
cheers john

[Brucer]

Well, I came late to his discussion (holidays, no internet) and it looks like you've got it well in hand. A couple of general comments for those who are putting off the job ...

You can solve a lot of problems by making simple adjustments. At some point, though, some of your simple adjustments may be counter-acting others so eventually everything drifts away from the "perfect" setup. That's why you should do a complete alignment every once in a while.

The full alignment procedure is designed in a logical sequence. It starts with a non-adjustable reference (the frame of the mill) and builds on that to get everything exactly right. So don't leave anything out, and don't switch the steps around.

[Bibbyman]

http://youtu.be/QDcmW2IgFXg

ElectricAl made this video.   

[prittgers]

All of you have made wonderful comments and contributions.  I can only add that I encounter the issue of doing a factory alignment quite often.  It's often helpful to have a printed copy of the instructions at hand.  So, we print the manuals and put a plastic cover on them.  They are easier to keep clean when you're working on a unit.  And, you can check off each item as you go through the procedure.

[lmo506]

Hey Folks. Can some one point to a link for the steps for alignment. My brother "borrowed"  my mill several years ago and i just got it back. I forget the steps , the manual is lost. The mill is an old lt30 mid 80's . I'm looking online but not finding any thing where to start first. Thanks very much in advance and hope everyone is making out ok in these changing times 

[terrifictimbersllc]

Call Woodmizer indianapolis and ask for it to be emailed to you.  They will do it while you are on the phone. 

[tawilson]

https://woodmizer.com/WebGateway3UI/ManualCS.aspx